Support the ACLU

For more than two decades I have been a member of the ACLU. I don't always find myself in agreement with the organization's positions but on balance I find that it deserves my support and gratitude. It is not the only or the oldest public advocacy group out there, but after nearly eighty years of service to America, it is the most distinguished.

Few, if any, organizations have been vilified as often for doing the right thing, for standing up for the rights of unpopular causes and defendants when nobody else would, not necessariy because the organization agreed with the views of those being defended, but because it has recognized that once we start denying rights to those we hate or disagree with, we will have lost our footing as a nation and a people committed to the notion that justice is the birthright of all men.

The organization has fought, and sometimes won, battles that I wish it hadn't. For those who deride the ACLU for the "damage" done by such decisions, I remind you that there is nothing the ACLU can do to take away from anyone of us a fraction of our liberty. They are battling governments at the local, state, and National level, however, who have the power, and often the inclination, to strip us, individually or in groups, of our liberty.

Go the its website, look around, and give strong consideration to joining. Be part of a proud and distinguished organization that has stood up for you when you didn't know it.